Reasoned Writing (RW) focuses on three specific objectives (the "Three Ss," if you will). The first (and most important) objective is STRUCTURE. Specifically, RW seeks to help writers select appropriate FRAMEWORKS to structure arguments (National Academies of Science, 2000). Straightforward, reasoned frameworks can help structure papers, paragraphs, and sentences. The second objective of RW is to encourage clear reasoning through SIMPLE presentation. Simple presentations limit the amount of information audiences must consider at any one time. The final objective of RW is to encourage scientific communicators to reason and communicate more SPECIFICALLY. Specific communication is self-contained, unambiguous, and truthful.

The companion module "A Framework for Scientific Papers" applies the general principle of using simple, specific frameworks to the particular case of writing more clearly reasoned hypothesis-driven scientific papers.